Daily Caller High: Vol. III – If you can’t say something nice …

Editor’s Note: Daily Caller High is a group of young writers cutting their teeth in the world of political punditry. This week, their assignment was to write on an issue from President Obama’s first year in office that they applaud or agree with.

A wake-up call

By Ian Pringle

After a long time of thinking and brainstorming I have concluded that the best thing Obama has done for this nation, thus far, is wake it up. Obama’s presidential campaign focused a lot of time and money on the youth vote. Prior to this, most presidents ignored the voting youth, but Obama did not. Some will say it was through his attention to the youth that he won the presidential election.

Obama has also awakened the American public. It was only through Obama’s victory that the Tea Party movement got started. Many of Obama’s plans for this country have riled up the nation. As the 2009 elections and the Massachusetts special election show, the nation is not too happy with his plans.

I had the honor of attending a seminar on the Constitution last week. We met in the back room of an Italian-American club up in Windsor Locks, Conn. The room was completely packed with Americans, all curious about their Constitution. I fully believe that if it wasn’t for Obama’s victory, the seminar would not have even taken place. In the last four or five months, I have met amazing people and many of them were lifetime Democrats until Obama came up for election. For the first time in their lives, they actually took notice of the issues and not the party.

Any kind of debate is good debate

By Brandon Kiser

Things are pretty polarized in America right now. With one side spewing lies at the other and attacks on the Supreme Court during the State of the Union, things can get dirty quickly and before you know it we’re at each other’s throats. On Friday, President Obama took a bold step against this polarization by attending a forum at a House Republican retreat in Baltimore and fielding questions from even his most vehement opposition.

Republicans chided Obama for being “out of touch” and for continually asserting that the House Republicans never put forth solutions. In fact, the President even admitted the GOP has worthy ideas—refuting his own assertion that they are the “party of no.”

To top it all off, the forum was televised to the American people. After broken promises from the president that he would televise the health care negotiations (the president unsuccessfully fought back against these claims in Baltimore) it’s a breath of fresh air to see this discussion in the open.

The bottom line is that the president needs more discussion with his opponents as he did on Friday. Who knows, maybe in the end they’ll get something done that they can both be proud of.

Getting energy right

By Jackie Seal

America is known for being one of the most advanced nations, if not the most advanced nation on earth. So who says we can’t become more advanced when it comes to other forms of energy? In his state of the union address President Obama talked about many forms of energy including clean coal, offshore drilling and nuclear energy. I think the president’s statements regarding those forms of energy came as a surprise to most conservatives, but a pleasant surprise.

I was also pleased to hear the president say he will not accept second place for our country in the global economy. Hearing him say that made me want to stand up and applaud. But, the talk of offshore drilling, clean coal, etc. has gone on too long. It’s time to take action. There is a wealth of places in this country where we can explore and drill for oil. Clean coal and nuclear power are among the cheapest forms of energy and as a nation we would be wise to explore those areas.

We need to take advantage of the rich resources we have right here in America before exploring wind power and solar power. Wind and solar power are both expensive and unreliable. For example, the U.S. government has spent $1.5 billion into solar energy research in the past 25 years and solar energy only accounts for 1.5% of energy in the United States today. Energy independence should be an issue Republicans and Democrats can rally around and come up with a solution. We know our president favors a cap-and-trade system but that is a debate for another day. Here’s to hoping the president stays true to his word regarding offshore drilling, clean coal and nuclear power.